Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty Announces Leadership Appointments

Mr. Schiavone was previously Regional Head of Financial Lines for AGCS North America. He will remain based in New York, taking the global lead for the company’s center of competence for alternative risk transfer and non-traditional (re)insurance. ART focuses on providing tailor-made solutions for corporate, industrial and financial clients facing unusual or complex risks, where traditional (re)insurance and financial products are inadequate, including specialty insurance fronting solutions, weather insurance, catastrophe bonds and specialty reinsurance coverage. In addition to his new ART responsibilities, Mr. Schiavone will continue to oversee ‘long tail’ lines of business for AGCS North America as Regional Head of Corporate (Liability and Financial Lines).

Bill Guffey leaves ART after 15 years to pursue other opportunities, as Hartmut Mai, AGCS’s Chief Underwriting Officer for Corporate lines explains: “I’d like to thank Bill for his many years at ART, culminating in his recent leadership of the team since he took over in 2014. He has contributed much to the growth of this important part of our business, and all at AGCS wish him well in the future. Paul Schiavone is ideally placed to succeed him, with his strong track record of strategic business development as well as extensive contacts and deep expertise across our industry. ART has been one of AGCS’ most successful lines of business and I look forward to working with Paul to develop this further in the future.”

Prior to joining AGCS in 2015, Mr. Schiavone was based in London as Global Chief Underwriting Officer for Special Lines, Zurich General Insurance. He has over 20 years’ leadership experience in the insurance industry, prior to which he trained as a lawyer, being admitted to the New York and New Jersey Bar in 1993.

Laura Coppola, who is currently AGCS’s North American Regional Head of Management Liability Commercial, takes over from Mr. Schiavone as Regional Head of Financial Lines for AGCS North America, and will remain based in New York. In her previous role, she was responsible for the development and underwriting of management liability products for public and private commercial customers in the U.S. and Canadian markets. She has more than 20 years' experience in senior and executive underwriting positions in management liability, including Directors & Officers insurance. Ms. Coppola studied at The University of Texas at Austin and Stony Brook University in New York.

AGCS offers a suite of financial lines insurance products, including D&O insurance, specifically designed to address the liabilities of managers and professionals at large global multi-nationals as well as small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Paul Schiavone comments: “Laura has been a major driver of the successful growth of our Financial Lines business in North America in recent years. She is well known to our clients and brokers across this market, and I’m looking forward to continuing to work with her as she takes the helm of our Financial Lines team.”

Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) is a leading global corporate insurance carrier and a key business unit of Allianz Group. AGCS provides risk consultancy, Property-Casualty insurance solutions and alternative risk transfer for a wide spectrum of commercial, corporate and specialty risks across 12 dedicated lines of business.

Our customers are as diverse as business can be, ranging from Fortune Global 500 companies to small businesses, and private individuals. Among them are the world’s largest consumer brands, tech companies and the global aviation and shipping industry, but also wineries, satellite operators or Hollywood film actors. They all look to AGCS for smart answers to their largest and most complex risks in a dynamic, multinational business environment and trust us to deliver an outstanding claims experience.

We constantly strive to deliver the best for our customers through our global team of around 4,400 employees from over 70 nationalities in 34 countries worldwide. As the one of the largest Property-Casualty units of Allianz Group, we are backed by strong and stable financial strength ratings and a global network in over 200 countries and territories. In 2018, AGCS generated a total of €8.2 billion gross premium worldwide.